Gooey Holiday 7 Layer Bars

This recipe is based on one from the 2015 Betty Crocker 24 Days of Cookies. The original calls for white chocolate chips, but I wanted something a little richer, but less sweet, so I went with semi-sweet chocolate chips. When I got everything home and started the recipe, I realized I had picked up evaporated milk instead of the condensed called for. Oops! So I replaced it with a substitute I found on Just a Pinch (I’m not going to include a link here because there is a script on that site that isn’t functioning and crashed my browser…).

To my delightful surprise, they turned out amazing! Like ooey-gooey brownies, but gingerbread flavored. Enjoy.

In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, water and 2 Tbsp flour until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan. It will be sticky.

Bake 15 minutes.

While the crust bakes, whisk brown sugar, remaining 2 Tbsp flour, baking powder and salt until smooth. Make sure to get any lumps from brown sugar into the mix.

Pour down sugar mix evenly over surface. Sprinkle chocolate chips, pecans, cranberries and coconut evenly over top. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until bubbling along edges and coconut is lightly toasted. For my tiny gas oven in the RV, it took 18 minutes.

The original calls for sweetened flaked coconut, but a lot of the commenters talked about it being too sweet, so I tried it with unsweetened, and found it just right for my tastes. If you have trouble finding unsweetened, try the natural or organic food section of your grocery store, it's often there.

The substitute for condensed milk I used here is 1 cup brown sugar whisked with 2 eggs, 2 Tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Omit these ingredients if using a 14 oz can of condensed milk.